Yell0wSTaR is coming home!

So I’m not the EU LCS beat writer anymore, but I couldn’t resist snagging this topic.

Best Of YellOwStaR – The Gym God | Funny Montage

(courtesy of DeoNade)

Since I started watching professional League of Legends, my favorite player has always been Bora Kim. To be honest, I had never really enjoyed watching eSports until Yell0wSTaR, xPeke, sOAZ, Cyanide, and Rekkles came together on the Rift. Then it truly felt like the end of Fnatic when 4 out of the 5 announced they were leaving, but I had faith in Bora… and season 5 started with an entirely new squad (and coach). I’m not sure the exact moment, but at some point in that Spring Split I realized that Bora Kim was easily the best team captain in Europe, and more than likely one of the best in the world. Season 5 was probably the single most entertaining season in Fnatic history, they had found a team that worked perfectly together, and was so good that they spent the latter half of the Summer Split trolling. (I can’t confirm that this is true… but Yell0wSTaR played Trundle support and that was definitely not a standard meta pick).

Imagine my sadness when after taking SKT T1 to 5 games at MSI, an 18/0 Split, and being the only Western team to break into the top 5 Power Ranking for worlds, Bora announced he would be leaving Fnatic to pursue a new adventure in North America. To me, Huni and Reignover leaving wasn’t surprising or particularly upsetting, as much as I respect both of them and their abilities, Huni’s arrogance on the rift was a consistent issue for Fnatic. Huni had the best TP ganks in Europe, but I will never un-see him feeding the bajeezus out of Smeb in Game 3 of the Worlds Semi-Finals. The second he locked in Riven I knew the game, series, and worlds run was over (though for a brief moment I hoped they were going to pull some tom-foolery and have Febiven play top Riven that game). Anyway- Bora announced he was leaving Fnatic, and I was blown away. He had been the rock that Fnatic rebuilt their franchise upon, and now he was leaving for a new adventure.

(courtesy of hoangbody.wordpress.com)

If there was ever any doubt how important Bora’s roll was with Fnatic, this split should negate that. Even with Febiven (who is probably tied for best Mid in Europe), Rekkles (who isn’t a hard carry ADC, but is insanely good regardless), and Spirit (who is individually a far better jungler than Reignover), Fnatic was stagnant and unimpressive. In 6 months Fnatic went from a well oiled machine to one of the least synergized teams in Europe, and I believe that with the return of Yell0wSTaR, we will see Fnatic return to a far more impressive state.

Now, I recognize that Fnatic/Yell0wSTaR have not officially announced Bora’s return to the team… but the evidence seems pretty compelling. The facts boil down to:

1. Yell0wSTaR has left TSM to return to Europe.
2. Fnatic has announced that Klaj will be moving to their challenger team.
3. Before leaving for TSM, Fnatic offered Yell0wSTaR a massive salary (I can’t confirm a number, but I have seen transcripts of interviews where Bora states Fnatic offered him more money than TSM)
4. To my knowledge, no other European teams have made or implied any changes to their Supports

To me this supports two potential theories:

1. Yell0wSTaR will make a triumphant return home and will return to Fnatic
2. YellowSTaR will take a leaf from XPeke and build a challenger team

Due to points 2 and 3 from above, I’m more inclined to believe he will be returning to Fnatic. The team and its fans love him, and frankly they need his guidance if Fnatic wants to get back on track and put this Spring behind them.

I’m expecting to hear the announcement before the end of this week, so to all you FNC fans out there lets cross our fingers and hope that our Glorious Leader is returning to his rightful throne.

#FNCWin